Theo Jansen – Kinetic Sculptures

For fifteen years Theo Jansen from Holland has wholeheartedly devoted himself to create a new form of life. His “Strandbeest” (beach beasts) seem so organic that from a distance they could be mistaken for huge insects or prehistoric mammoth skeletons, but they are made of materials from the industrial age: flexible plastic tubes, adhesive tape.

They were born inside a computer as an algorithm, but they do not require engines, sensors or any other type of advanced technology in order to walk. They move thanks to the force of the wind and wet sand they find in their habitat of the Dutch coast.

Jansen’s creatures begin to take shape as a simulation inside a computer, in the shape of artificial life organisms which compete among themselves to be the quickest. Jansen studies the winning creatures and reconstructs them three-dimensionally with light and flexible tubes, nylon thread and adhesive tape.